Sunday, October 14, 2012

Last night, we had our "Book of Mormon Party" in celebration of the fact that we finished reading the Book of Mormon together as a family for the first time!

October is a month of celebration, especially in our family, and I thought of all the things we celebrate, reading the Book of Mormon is one of the best reasons to do so!

Turns out, this was one of our favorite parties that we've thrown (and Steve and I have thrown many!) It was low-key, but meaningful, and we were joined by some good friends.

Here is what we did.

First of all, the kids dressed up in their best renditions of Book of Mormon-style. They either dressed up as their favorite character or just as someone from Book of Mormon times. Autumn (pictured above) was Abish.

We also had a Nephi and "Nephi's wife."

We ate Book of Mormon-themed food, prepared simply of course! When everyone arrived, we let the kids create "Secret Combination Pizzas" and paired it with "Tree of Life Fruit Salad" (made by my friend Dawn...a walnut salad with pears...yummy!) We finished it off with the "Golden Plate" cupcakes pictured above and a tangy party drink provided by my friend Cammie. Delicious!

He brought 16 stones to the Lord and asked him to touch them so that they would glow. When the Lord did so, the Brother of Jared saw the finger of God and many great things were revealed to him.

To create our "glowing stones", we modified this idea for a glowing ghost craft. First we activated the glow sticks, rolled them into a loop and wrapped them in clear packing tape to keep them compact. Then we placed them inside translucent plastic cups and sealed them up with tape. We cut slits in our cups so we could fold down the sides and make them more compacts and "stone-like."

To wrap up the evening, we surprised the kids with a re-enactment of Lehi's Dream.

I'm not good at taking night photos with my camera yet, but the tree looked awesome!

Steve threw some Christmas lights on one of our trees and rigged up an "iron rod" for the kids to follow. (We pretended that our trampoline was the "Great & Spacious Building!)

Once, they reached the tree, they picked the "fruit" which consisted of more fun glowing items. I can imagine that this is an image that will be burned into the kids' memories for a long time.

As I put Scarlett to bed last night, I asked her what her favorite part of the party was. She said "these" and held up the glow-stick that she picked from the tree. I said, "Oh, you liked all of the glowy things?" She said, "No, I liked following the iron rod and picking the fruit from the tree of life!"For anyone reading this who might wonder what this dream is about...It is symbolic of our earthly lives. The tree symbolizes the Love of God which is manifest in the fact that God sent his son Jesus Christ to die for us. The "iron rod" is the word of God. If we follow it, it will lead us back to the Savior to live with God again forever. (You can read more about how Lehi's Dream relates to our lives in this talk called "Finding Ourselves in Lehi's Dream.")These are some of the basic things that we can teach our children. It was fun to play together and to celebrate these basic truths that guide our lives and bring us such happiness.By the way, the parties are only just beginning...TOMORROW IS MY BIRTHDAY! Autumn's is next week...and soon, we'll have a baby to celebrate!! Too much fun!

Wow! What a fun idea! I've been thinking about how we could celebrate as a family when we finally reach our goal - I'm going to have to steal some of your ideas! Having a "real" Tree of Life sounds so cool! :)

Congratulations on such a wonderful celebration! Our family also just finished reading the Book of Mormon together again this past week. I've not kept track of how many times we've finished, but then, our youngest is a senior in High School this year. I never did think of celebrating, but then I look to creative people like you for fun ideas. I hope your family enjoys many many more Book of Mormon Celebrations!

Thank you Marcy! The kids can't wait to do it again. Another exciting development is that Guy announced today that he has set a goal for himself to read the Book of Mormon on his own before he gets baptized. He will turn seven next month ...he also told me that he is going to "fast" from video games until he reaches his goal. Makes me chuckle since he only gets 10 minutes a day on the computer as it is! What a valiant soul!

Yes being where we have no family and so few church members it was very positive to celebrate like this with kids their age...positive peer pressure sort of! And now I'm going to sing "you're not alone!!" ;)

I just have to say....that is awesome!!! Sounds like such a fun party, a fun way to celebrate finishing the book together, and sounds like something the kids really will remember for a long time. :) Love it!

Ok, i said this is amazing, and this is the most awesome party ever and can I re-post this on my blog because I cant get over its awsomeness!! and i also said Happy birthday again my dear friend!! and i said Love, Cherry!!

What an awesome idea. After reading this post I sat here thinking what a great mom you are. I am amazed at all the teaching/fun activities you provide your kids, and to be honest, I was feeling kind of lousy that I don't do more for my kids. It only took me a few minutes to realize that instead of sitting there thinking I could be up and doing. I called my husband and asked if we could do this tonight for fhe, and he agreed. I ran to the store and picked up a few things and spent about 20 minutes putting it together. It was too cold to go outside, so I set up a tree we had in the house...put lights on it, and hung rice crispy treats from it. When Clark got home I asked if he could set up an iron rod to the tree. To our surprise, he had also made mist of darkness and had some dramatic music playing in the background. Afterwards it was great to tie the comparisons of each story together, and of coarse we had to shoot our bows and arrows again and turn all the lights out so we could have lights in our barges. I think this is a family night we will remember for quite some time. Thanks for sharing your great ideas and experiences.On a different note...Happy, Happy Birthday. I hope you have a FaBulOuS day, and feel extra, extra special!!! Love, Renee

Thank you for sharing that, Renee! You did great!!! It just made me so happy to read about your experience. I love that you hung rice crispie treats from the tree...ha, that's so great! We HONESTLY just did the minimum as well...but it had a big effect on the kids. Now Guy wants to read the BofM all by himself this next year before he gets baptized. He's on fire! :) I can envision how much fun you guys had just from your description! Way to go, Mama! :)

You are amazing. You have an amazing husband too. I think it is so awesome that you read the Book of Mormon with your young children. I loved your activity. The Tree of Life was stunning. I love that fruit and especially Scarlett's comment. She at such a young age has been well taught. I find the children of today to be so smart and they understand things quickly. Blessings and hugs to you all!

I love Abish and your little Abish is beautiful! What a great party and wonderful memories you've created for your kids. We are about to finish again, and I'm wondering if we can modify some of these activities for our 11-y-o and 16-y-o for the next FHE.

Hello to you from Scotland!Love this post. Our family has had Book of Mormon parties in the past and has used some similar ideas to yours. Will use the bow and arrows next time :) Today we finished the New Testament and I was wondering if you have ever had a New Testament completion party for your family? I'm looking for ideas for activities for acting out the stories, etc. Beth

Hi Beth! That's awesome! We have not done a party after reading the NT...we're reading it as a family for the first time right now! However, we have done a lot of Easter celebrations that might have ideas that you could use! A meal that Jesus would eat, and I have long wanted to do a series on the miracles of Jesus too. Look under the tab on my blog called teaching children about Christ.